Mars Chairman Explains Why the $35 Billion Chocolate Giant Will Never Go Public

With more than $35 billion in annual sales, Mars Inc — the company behind brands like Twix, M&Ms, and Skittles — is one of the largest family-owned companies in the world. And it has been around for more than 100 years.

But as the company makes changes and invests in its future, there is one thing that will continue to stay the same for the chocolate giant, Mars chairman Stephen Badger told Business Insider in a recent interview. 

"We're 100% committed to staying private," Badger said. "It really does allow us to pursue our own path, our own future, and to really invest in the long term."

Staying private allows the company flexibility that many public companies could only dream of. 

"Being private does give us a competitive advantage in that we know who our shareholders are. We could fit them all in quite a small room if we had to. And so the ability of management to interface with the shareholders is very direct. It's very tangible. It's very immediate. And, I think it does give us the capacity to make decisions quickly," Badger said.

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